Stayed at the Springer Mountain Shelter on the night of May 3rd and then hiked to the top of Springer Mountain on the morning of May 4th. This was the start of a BP trip I did with 8 other women hiking the first 16 miles of the Appalachian Trail. We met several people starting their thru-hike and I enjoyed the many wildflowers in route to the top :)

I decided one saturday morning to scout out the beginning of the Appalachian trail on a whim, thinking this mountain would be a little more accessible than it was. I drove around for hours and ended up putting my powerless Civic on a few dirt roads that it couldn't handle. I finally found an easy way up on Forest road 42, and hiked the one mile to the summit. I didn't realize that most people got up this mountain on the official AT approach trail from Amilcola falls State park until later.

Started climbing from Amicalola Falls State Park at about 4:30-5:00 PM. I was out of shape, had eaten a Reuben for lunch and had a few too many beers. I Was hiking to decompress after a very rough few days at work. I ended up hiking the last few miles of the trail with my headlamp and flashlight. When I did summit, reaching the beginnign of the AT, I made a quick dinner, at it, and proceeded to vomit all over the top of Springer. I hiked back down to the Black Gap shelter to sleep, and walk out the next morning. The trail is easy enough to follow, although there there can be some overgrown sections.

My wife and I made a few trial runs from the Amicalola Lodge in preperation to hike the AT through Georgia. We were shuttled to North Carolina Just above the Georgia state line in July 1999 and hiked South on the AT. It was a very dry year in1999 and many of the water sources were dry. I was glad to get to Springer because we were pretty beat up from our time on the AT and we were looking forward to the night at the Lodge.

My first experience on the Appalachian Trail. Amazing I made it as far as I did. My brother and I hiked in old Army jungle boots and used cheap external packs we bought at a discount store. We ate canned food and carried jars of peanut butter that we slathered over melba toast (it not get stale). We were young and in great shape. An easy day was twenty miles and we had plenty of time to goof off. Great memories. I wish my brother was still around to reminisce.

Goodness gracious, it was COLD that night! (How cold was it?) So cold we were in the bunkie just after sunset. After listening to the wind imitating a runaway freight train all night, we woke up to a thick film of frost on the tent and icicles dripping from trailside seeps.

I was just 17 when I reached the summit of Springer Mountain. Not the best summit of Georgia, but important because it's the southern terminus of the AT. I used what was then the new shelter and had a great hike that week, ending up descending the approach trail down to Amicalola State Park.